Japanese brand might have lost Le Mans but its a (financial) winner in Australia

Toyota posts $236m profit

Toyota may have lost the Le Mans 24-hour race overnight, but it's local division has chalked up a victory announcing today that it posted a $236 million after-tax profit in Australia.

The Japanese car maker confirmed the financial result is a 22 per cent increase on last year, despite incurring an $81 million cost for its restructuring program ahead of the closure of its Altona manufacturing facility in Victoria by the end of 2017.

It says the biggest contributing factor was its position as the top-selling car brand in Australia with 209,252 local sales and 64,605 vehicles exported during the 2015/2016 Japanese financial year, which culminates on March 31.

"It has been extremely pleasing to see our employees continue their dedication and commitment to achieve our company goals. Their ongoing engagement has helped us to achieve these positive results," said Toyota Australia President Dave Buttner.

"Our manufacturing team members are working tirelessly to ensure that our last Camry will be our best one yet. The quality of these vehicles has been at an all-time high and this has assisted us in maintaining strong domestic and export sales for the Camry, Camry Hybrid and Aurion.

"Last year we also revamped almost 70 per cent of our vehicle line-up, including the widely anticipated release of the all-new HiLux. The fact that our vehicle line-up continues to appeal strongly to Australian motorists is extremely satisfying."

Toyota's profit results come a month after Holden also confirmed it posted an after-tax profit last financial year - it's first since 2010 - while rival Ford's continued investment in the localised engineering and research division meant it lost more than $120 million last financial year ahead of its local manufacturing closure in October 2016.